I decided to have some fun and experiment with color harmony or complimentary colors.

Pairs of colors that share no common elements with each other are called, ‘complimentary colors’.

Instead of my traditional palette, I chose to experiment with a revolutionary idea of painting using the 5000 year old yin/yang approach.

The ancient Chinese understood our world in terms of a balance of opposites. Everything in nature has its opposite.

For example:

moon/sun

black/white

day/night

sunrise/sunset

Every color has its opposite too! Each ‘primary’ color or hue (red, yellow, blue) is directly opposite a ‘secondary’ color (green, purple, orange).

These complimentary colors are always found opposite each other on the color wheel:

Red – Green

Yellow – Purple

Blue – Orange

When opposite colors are mixed they create beautiful, chromatic neutral grays. Using this technique, I limited my palette to the family of complimentary colors I felt were best suited for the subject being painted.

Out of the three yin/yang palette possibilities, I chose the blue and orange palette.

You can vary the above colors with your own choices, but it is best to always have a warm, true & cool representative for each opposite color. These complimentary colors vibrate when painted next to each other and are beautifully muted when mixed. A broad range of colors can be mixed from this limited palette. The results are harmonious and color intensity can be controlled.

I was able to mix luscious greens, rich browns and vibrant autumn colors next to quieter grays. I am please with the results and plan to try painting a series of landscapes using the yin/yang palettes – I’ll keep you posted!

For more information I suggest reading The Yin/Yang of Painting Also, using the color wheel can help you determine color schemes balance and harmony in your artwork, web-pages, designs or home decorating.

18 Comments

[…] A FAVORITE BOOK – The Yin Yang of Painting A Contmporary Master Reveals the Secrets of Painting found in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Hongian Zhang & Lois Wooley. You might like to read: A Unique Approach Using Color Harmony to Improve Your Paintings […]

John Lawson February 22, 2011 at 12:56 pm

Lori,

Many thanks for your insightful articles and art tips. As an avid painter, I’m always look for new tips and tricks and you’ve been a big help to me.

[…] Each painting creates its own special set of problems, because each one is its own lesson in itself. As you are painting, you are going to discover things along the way that will alter your original approach. […]

I am glad you enjoyed this post. It was an interesting project for me too… 🙂

Angela February 6, 2014 at 4:53 pm

Lori, this is a great article. I have used a similar technique when priming a canvas before starting to paint. I will paint the entire canvas in a complementary mid tone colour. For example when doing a seascape of mostly blue I will underpaint with burnt sienna. The ‘shadow’ of burnt sienna under the blue gives an extra vibrancy, especially if little parts of it show through. I also like how you posted your reference photo next to the finished painting and would love to see more of those comparisions